Very well put Jostein. Add like to throw in a thought or two. The two main problems is transport and heating/cooling.
We have all noticed that Godfrey has bought himself a fancy new environmental car. By doing this he contributes directly. This has started a spin off of this thread. I believe it means that his purchase has had impact on our way of thinking. Kudos for that. By doing these small things we influences each others mindset. I on the other hand have decided to put my heat pump on hold. Instead I have decided to isolate my house better. When this is done, then I'll go for the heat pump. This affects my neighbour mindset. This is just an example, just like Godfreys car. But I hope and believe that these small steps sooner or later will affect the politicians and those who make decisions in large companies. Another key to success factor is that we need the right decisions pay of in money. I'm not an expert but I've heard those who knows saying this is possible. Tim Mostly harmless (just plain Norwegian) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jostein Øksne Sent: 29. desember 2006 19:38 To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Re: Doomsday is coming upon us? On 12/29/06, Bob Sullivan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I find this discussion silly because it is winding all over the place > and cannot be resolved. None of us want global warming or are in > favor of it. The scientific facts are still under review and > development. None of us can do very much at this moment to stop it. > And nobody has built the national political resolve to take a 1/2 of > 1% hit on Gross National Product to even start addressing the issue. > > So here we sit, argueing 'the sky is falling' or is not. Saying it is > your fault or is not. And DOING not a single constructive thing to > help the situation. A couple of very simple suggestions: If you live in a place that needs heating parts of the year, install a heat pump and reconsider the house insulation. Reduce heating at the times of day when nobody's home anyway. Next time you buy a car, go for the smaller engine. Figure out ways to use less hot water. Depending on the infrastructure around you, consider walking to the store when doing your everyday shopping. The exercise is an added bonus. > Make a constructive suggestion and move on. No more finger pointing. Paul Stenquist pointed his finger at the smoking habits of Europeans, and all I did was to demonstrate that North American and European smoking habits are identical. I wasn't pointing any fingers at anyone, with exception of my little tongue-in-cheek nudge about car size towards the end. But most of my suggestions has been mentioned in the discussion already. I have also seen responses to those suggestions, some of which lead to a diversion over individual "freedom", others lamenting how insignificant we are as single persons anyway and arguing that the individual initiative wouldn't matter in the big picture. But there you go. There are _plenty_ of good suggestions. The problem is that people doesn't _want_ to move on. They'd rather stick to what they know than risking a change in their habits. A science philosopher (don't recall his name, sorry) maintained that scientific paradigma shifts occurred when proponents of old theories died out. It may well be that getting the Wester world's population to think differently about resource use and energy expenditure will have to take a generation too. Maybe that's the silliest part. But anyway, any small actions we're able to undertake may spur the next generation to do better, at least. Even discussions like this one will at least heigthen the level of conciousness. Jostein -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
